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Monthly Archives: November 2016

Because of my dyslexia I can’t read patterns so I have to make crochet stuff up as I go a long – my hubbies office at work doesn’t have enough natural light to keep real plants so I decided to have a go at making some succulents.

A friend asked how I made them so I broke down the stages in pictures and text. I do it intuitively , so I can’t tell you exactly how I make them because my learning disabilities make it difficult to translate into individual stitches and numbers

Below are the instructions for the red and green one

100 chain

Then treble in each chain 2 in every other stitch

To make the leaves

Third row

I have made little bumps of 6 chain and 3 double crotchet in between make 6 leaves

Next set of leaves make the gaps 4 double crochet – and the leaves are half treble , treble , halftreble make about 4

Continue making large leaves until the end – gradually build up to 7 double crochets in between each leaf

If you want to make an all green plant make half treble into the last stitch – half treble in each stitch of all the large leaves – add 6 chain at each leaf tip

I changed to red at the above stage to add contrast to my design

When you get to the medium leaves change to double crochet instead of half treble

When you get to the tiny first leaves finish off the red wool and darn in the end

I added a red stitch with a needle to the top of each small leaf

Roll the strip of crochet and start stitching the bottom of the roll with green wool to hold it into place – you may have to stretch or gather the leaves a bit to get them fitting in the spaces made by the double crochet

Carry on rolling and stitching to firmly hold into place – stitch the end of the roll to the body of the plant – I tend to do it by sight so that the plant looks a good shape

I visited the Ikon in Birmingham gallery – Zilvinas Kempinas installations were particularly fab – there were 3 rooms to walk through, 2 felt like they could be migraine inducing with flickering lights and fluttering tapes that disturbed my periferal vision. Inspite of this I liked the atmosphere and being led through paths created by tape and wire.
Room 1

was light with white wires strung from floor to ceiling whilst tree shadows were projected at 360 degrees around the space -it reminded me of as trees moving in the wind and of driving on a tree lined road in winter with the sun low on the horizon
Room 3 was dark , it had large lit discs that evoked moons on the walls made of resin and aluminium – video tape was suspended from the ceiling and fanned to create movement. These led to a horizontal striped image that could have been made up of more tape – the flickering in this room was created by the suspended tape and the horizontal wall

Room two had two large black discs on the floor that held water and ball bearings – the ball bearings moved slowly and were mesmerising

In the centre was another circle in which a circular piece of tape writhed and twisted fanned from above – again it was difficult to walk away – the tape lurched unerringly towards me a few times so that I had to step back
The rooms had a cohesive feel with the repetition of circles , flickering and movement

After the library I decided to visit the Central Station – which I noticed was very reflection friendly when arrived in Birmingham last night . The outside of the building is covered in metal panels that break up the reflections of buildings etc in the surrounding area. Sunlight also reflects off the metal and it dances on building across the way.

The ceiling of the station

Out side the building I came across some lovely reflected light that I could not stop taking pictures of

I looked up – unfortunately I didn’t realise that I wasn’t quite in focus until later

I tried to do a panorama round a corner – it doesn’t quite work but you get the idea

The Ikon gallery is a white space inside a converted Neo- Goethic building ( I had to look it up ) I was fascinated by the stairwell

Jon is at a meeting in Birghmingham this week so I have come down for the ride – we are staying at the Novotel in the city centre. The view from the room wasn’t very inspiring so I needed to fiddle with it in my IPhone apps
Checking in on my location near Brindley Place – I am minutes from the canal, the Ikon art gallery and the Birmingham library.

The Library and Ikon don’t open til 11am – I walked to the library – its highly decorated and new, I walked around it and inside as much as I am allowed until 11am

I walked through the symphony hall mall and on my

way spotted some nice sculpture, and a man made lake …. with ginkgo leaves that remind me of Korea.

At 11am I travelled up the floors to the secret garden and Shakespeare’s Memorial room – which was a surprise after all the modern concrete . Below are an illustration in a stairwell, the lift from the main library up to the secret garden and some layers on the way up.

The secret garden and views from the top

Shakespeare’s memorial room – the lift was out of order so I had to climb up 90steps to the garden and another 46 to the memorial lol- it was as worth the climb